Thoughts, questions and comments

Annatar Giftbringer

Emperor Mongoose
So, here are some of my comments, questions and thoughts regarding High Guard. Some of this may have been posted in other threads, apologies if so.

The rules and comments for different types of hulls seem a bit short? Some types only get the table info and no further comments, but perhaps that changes when the configuration examples graph gets included?

The design sequence isn't too different from last time, but somehow it feels easier and more inviting to work with. Can't pinpoint why. Perhaps it's the language used, perhaps it helps that large parts of the chapter isn't huge tables to sift through. Changing power plants, drives and so on to a simpler format and moving away from the Class + tonnage helped and simplified things I'd say, well done! I no longer have to search through several large tables to find out what effect I get from my class H powerplant, the new table simply has a power per ton rating for different models, and drives too are much easier to read!

One suggestion I do have concerns the design order. Weapons are installed after power plants, meaning I might be almost done with my new ship class, only to discover that the weapon package I want requires more power. This means I gotta go from step 8 back down to step 3 to adjust power level so the ship works. Perhaps power plant should be one of the final things installed, just before cargo space? Not a huge deal the way it is now, but there will be times when some jumping back and forth is required.

It's interresting to see common areas as a separate entry nowadays. Of course it was possible to make larger common rooms earlier too, but the old standard was to just steal a ton from each stateroom to create them. Since staterooms are still drawn as 3 dtons, where's the additional tonnage gone? Corridors?

Now for a freezing question: what is the difference between cryo berths and emergency cryo berths? One displaces half a dton and is meant for passengers, the other takes four occupants, is 1 dTon and "made for emergencies", but what's stopping people from traveling in emergency berths during normal conditions? Is the operating console hidden behind a "in case of emergency, break glass" sign? Perhaps the regular ones are more comfortable, offer more privacy and have space for baggage?

Airlocks are smaller, it seems. In the current (old) version a standard airlock holds three people, as opposed to two in the new one. Two works for me I guess.

Smaller is not the only change. Their noticeably slower too. One minute to cycle compared to ten seconds from before. Quite a change.

"A ship may have one airlock for every 100 tons".
So, is this a rule now rather than a guideline? Or does this:
"Additional airlocks can be added" mean that 1 per 100 tons is standard, and more than this is optional?

Step 13: finalize the design is part of what I mentioned earlier. A section filled with friendly reminders and advice, makes the whole process feel lighter, easier and more fun!



More to come!
 
Annatar Giftbringer said:
"A ship may have one airlock for every 100 tons".
So, is this a rule now rather than a guideline? Or does this:
"Additional airlocks can be added" mean that 1 per 100 tons is standard, and more than this is optional?

You can have one airlock per 100 tons without having to purchase them. If you want more then 1 per 100 tons then it's an extra cost option.
 
Annatar Giftbringer said:
One suggestion I do have concerns the design order. Weapons are installed after power plants, meaning I might be almost done with my new ship class, only to discover that the weapon package I want requires more power. This means I gotta go from step 8 back down to step 3 to adjust power level so the ship works. Perhaps power plant should be one of the final things installed, just before cargo space? Not a huge deal the way it is now, but there will be times when some jumping back and forth is required.
Agreed, same for stuff like sensor suites and other power hungry systems that you don't take into account until they pop up.

Annatar Giftbringer said:
Since staterooms are still drawn as 3 dtons, where's the additional tonnage gone? Corridors?
Are you talking about how they are actually visually represented in the diagrams? Or did I miss an update where the size of staterooms went from 4 to 3 dtons.
 
Belisknar said:
Agreed, same for stuff like sensor suites and other power hungry systems that you don't take into account until they pop up.

IMO, not that it is always a good one....the design sequence is just a rough guideline to help players get an idea of how to design a ship. It helps to have a good idea of what your aiming for. build a rough idea, or notes before you start doing the numbers.

if your building a corvette for example, you can quickly jot down notes of your target thrust and jump, then mentally, or on paper design your ideal load out weapons wise.. then you know roughly what sort of power supply your going to need to be able to fight and move at the same time.

if you know your tonnage you can also do a rough guess at how many turrets, bays, barbettes you can fit onto a ship. a note on your desired weapons load will let you guesstimate power usage....

once you know the rough base power usage you can backtrack and adjust the power supply. "Hmm I need 120 power...so that's 12 tons at Tl....okay I have 11 tons left over after everything else....so I need to buy higher tech level power system."

maybe a sample worksheet for people to use to do the rough build on would help.

Annatar Giftbringer said:
Since staterooms are still drawn as 3 dtons, where's the additional tonnage gone? Corridors?

It could be taken up by the life support systems under the deck, or the plumbing between the walls, or an overhead space...lots of things that really do not need to be on the deck-plan could eat up the extra tonnage.

if someone was ambitious, and knew how to draw/use a modeling program..they might even be able to get an illustration/article on the subject accepted....maybe it wont get into the actual rules books, but they do publish a nifty E-mag every so often.
 
wbnc said:
if someone was ambitious, and knew how to draw/use a modeling program..they might even be able to get an illustration/article on the subject accepted....maybe it wont get into the actual rules books, but they do publish a nifty E-mag every so often.

Oh there might be a chapter with some guidelines on deck plans in there...

Signs & Portents hasn't been published for awhile.
 
Annatar Giftbringer said:
The design sequence isn't too different from last time, but somehow it feels easier and more inviting to work with. Can't pinpoint why.

We spent a _long_ time trying to achieve that - thanks for noticing!
 
msprange said:
Annatar Giftbringer said:
The design sequence isn't too different from last time, but somehow it feels easier and more inviting to work with. Can't pinpoint why.

We spent a _long_ time trying to achieve that - thanks for noticing!

Hey, thank YOU for spending all that time and managing to achieve it! The old ship design process did feel a bit like going back to school, whereas the new one is more of an additional mini-game, fun and exciting for the whole gaming group :)
 
Moving on to weapons, where a lot has happened since I started this thread.

Small craft are now more limited with how many weapons they carry, something I find reasonable. I love the idea of firmpoints, and how there are separate rules for small craft with limited range and power consumptions for their weapons! I assume any firmpoint may be upgraded to a turret - perhaps a note should be made that each turret 'costs' 1 dt? I know the 'Turrets and Fixed Mounts' paragraph deals with that issue so it might be overkill to have it within the firmpoint rules too, and most people should have no problem cross-referencing the rules and finding this out for themselves, but one never knows...

While I'm obsessing over minor details, as far as I can tell it's not spelled out that a non-turret firmpoint may only mount a single weapon - the only reference is in the Turrets and Fixed Mounts part, where a single fixed mount can hold three weapons, might be confusing.

Looking at turreted weapons, nowhere in High Guard is the to-hit bonus of lasers mentioned (except for the -3 for the drill).

Are missiles also limited in range like beam weapons when mounted on firmpoints?



Barbettes: Wow, from the beauty of simplicity of first editition we move on to a smorgasbord of variety! So many toys to choose from! Sweet :) Only thing missing would be laser barbettes and sandcaster barbettes, though I don't quite see the need for either of them...

Most of them look good to me, I just have two questions here:
- Mine dispensers make no mention of firmpoints, so I assume they always carry six mines (unlike other ammo-based barbettes)

- Firmpoint-mounted missile barbettes can hold 8 missile, but fire up to 5 per volley... Shouldn't it carry a multiple of 5 so it can fire twice with full effect?



Three bay sizes? Good for variety, and of course great for when one wants a warship with more pronounced heavy main batteries.

Sad to see the meson bays being left out. Tachyon does offer an alternative, but meson bays could be countered by meson screens, tachyons only by super-high-tech armour...

I see railguns are not just 'the same weapon, but more of them' any longer. This time both damage and rate-of-fire goes up with size. Their auto rating seem brutally high though, were they written before the change to personal combat? I.e. should they have auto 4, 6, 6 rahter than 8, 12, 12?

The move to speaking primarily of number of attacks rather than individual rounds for missiles, torpedoes and railguns is a good one! We can still find out the exact number of shots available, but the primary information is now how many full volleys can we fire, making things simpler. Also on a related matter, good to see missiles and torpedo bays now actually carrying ammo within them!

On a side-note, torpedoes must have gotten smaller..? Under the current v1 rules the 36 torpedoes stored within a small 50 dt bay would require 90 dt before launchers. No complaints, just noticed.



I have way too little experience with spinal weapons to offer any meaningful comment here, but destructive x1,000? Wow!



Have the tables for mines been accidentally swapped? The regular mine deals special damage and the tracking mine deals 2D...

Missiles: Looking good overall, methinks. Standard missiles should be buffed to 10G like in the rulebook, and ortillery should perhaps get a note regarding the game effects of being too slow for ship-combat (does point defence get massive to-hit bonus? Auto-hit even?)



Sandcasters: The old chaff canisters sounded (to me) like something one would spray upon an enemy ship, to mess with their sensors, while the new offer an additional layer of defence for the ship launching them. While I assume the penalties apply to the ship hiding within the chaff cloud as well, it does offer defensive options too. Of course I have to be silly and ask wether a ship with a triple sandcaster turret can launch two regular sand canisters along with one chaff? (For stronger defence against missiles as well as sensor cover)

Can pebbles be used against other starships? Oh, nevermind, of course they can. They deal 1DD damage, personal scale, meaning 1D against spaceships.



Torpedoes get armour saves now! Interresting concept, hope it works! Things to (perhaps) consider include: Can a torpedo save twice, or will the first hit blow away its armour so that the next attempt automatically destroys it (provided that the second laser hits, of course).

Torpedoes are slower than missiles, but this might be intended? They haven't had their damage buffed quite as much as missiles, but that's probably for the better. Things could get very nasty very quickly otherwise...

In the current rules, bomb-pumped torpedoes deal more damage than regular ones, but this has changed, I noticed. I can only assume it's intentional, to trade raw damage for increased point defence resilience.

Multi-warhead torpedoes deal more damage per warhead than standard torpedoes, is that correct?



Ground scale weapons now have mounting rules for all ship sizes, hooray! Not just small craft anymore, I like that! There are several 'adventure-sized' ships that might benefit from anti-personnel turrets, depending on what their owners work with, or where they travel. Not every problem is suited for starship-grade application of violence, after all...

That last part, regarding 250+ kg weapons, is that meant to imply that large weapons need to be mounted in starship-grade mounts, thus consuming a weapon slot each? That's how I read it, at least.



Point-defence batteries are starting to sound interresting! While type I will eat up way too many hardpoints to be viable, the other two sound nice... I assume there will be some form of volley or barrage rules added later on, otherwise PD batteries are gonna need some clarification, such as is it one roll per missile, or per bay-volley?

Also, the one battery per 1,000 dt, is that per full 1,000 dt or part thereof? For example, would a 2,500 ship need two or three batteries for full coverage?



Finally, screens and black globes. I have too little experience with those to offer any comments.
 
Just a comment on your comment :)

Firmpoints basically mount turret or barbettes, but with shorter range (mechanically speaking).

You can't upgrade to firmpoint to a "real" turret - all smallcraft are basically capped at Close range weapon now. EXCEPT - should you mount missile/torp racks/barbettes - then obviously the range remains.

But basically, direct fire range for smallcraft is capped at close.
 
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